The Art of Being Red
by Eve-the-Charlotte
Summary: Witchblood-verse. The story behind Jean Grey's very unique hair color, whose root is in Scott Summers.


_The Art of Being Red _by _Eve-the-Charlotte_

Summary: The story behind Jean Grey's very unique hair color.

Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or any characters in it or in Marvel. However, I own this plot, and that's enough for me.

Pairings: Scott/Jean; briefly mentioned later Todd/Scott and Emma/Jean.

Number 23 in the Witchblood series, as it seems I miscounted along the way. Oh well, enjoy!

*TheArtOfBeingRed*

Jean Grey stared apprehensively at the mansion that was laid out ever so beautifully before her emerald green eyes. Honestly, in Jean's twelve year old life on Planet Earth, she had never seen anything so, so _perfect_. And she would be living there! The fangirlish squeal of utter glee that erupted from the young girl caused her father's dark blue Volvo to swerve in a rather frightening fashion. Mr. Grey did not expect happiness from his daughter, anger, depression, anxiety, any of that, but not the sheer joy that shone from his little girl. Most girls aged twelve years would be scared to death at the thought of leaving their families to live in some stranger's mansion with a very rich, _very_ eccentric handicapped man and his assistants who claimed they could help children with _problems_ like Jean's. And yet, here she was, grinning like a five year old at Christmas, awaiting the presents they were about to unwrap and play with. Sometimes, John Grey did not, well, _get_ his daughter at all. It was like they were on completely different wavelengths. And his wife was not _helping_.

Mrs. Grey was sitting up in the front passenger seat, a frown marring her normally beautiful face. Her daughter was a _mutant_. How the hell was she supposed to explain _that_ to her friends in the bridge club! "My little Jean isn't here today, ladies, because she can read minds and move things with her mind, so John and I set her off to an institution upstate that's run by a man in a wheelchair who claims that _he_ can read minds, too. By the way, it that a new dress, Darleen?" Please, the first thing Mrs. Abbott would do was ask about Elaine's little drinking problem, because the old hag couldn't keep her lips shut for five seconds and didn't see that certain _issues_ should be kept _secret_. Then the girls would stay still and quiet for a few moments after it was confirmed that Elaine hadn't been hitting the hard stuff before getting up silently to leave and never return. My God, if Jean's _problem_ got out, Elaine wouldn't be able to show her face in respectable society ever again!

The trio in the Volvo finally left the vehicle and walked up to the front steps, with John carrying Jean's luggage, since the pre-teen had already run ahead and was on the porch on the mansion. The wide doors to the mansion opened and four individuals stepped out or, rather, three did, and one pushed another person in a wheelchair. Two men (one of whom was in a wheelchair, Mr. and Mrs. Grey noted), a woman, and a teenage boy stood before the Grey family. Mr. Grey noted that the standing man looked rather savage, like a wild animal, while Mrs. Grey saw that the woman was of _African_ descent. Jean, however, only had eyes for the boy, who looked to be about her age and was absolutely the _prettiest_ boy she had _ever_ seen. He was a few inches shorter than Jean herself and had longish dark auburn hair held back in a cute ponytail, a long, handsome face with a cute, not too big nose and soft-looking, dark pink lips, a thin, coltish frame that he'd probably grow into, and sunglasses. The ruby-colored sunglasses caught her attention since she was so used to seeing someone's eyes when she met them. Still, Jean knew his eyes were blue, bright blue with some pale grey diamond-shaped flecks around the pupil. She didn't know _how_ she knew that fact; she just _knew_ it. And Jean was pretty sure she wasn't looking into his mind; at least, she wasn't aware she was. The man in the wheelchair smiled charmingly at the small family in front of him, though Charles Francis Xavier inwardly sighed at the thoughts he got just gleaming the surface of Mr. and Mrs. Grey's minds. Still, the girl seemed to be already quite fond of Scott and quite the good guesser, and that was enough for Charles.

Later that night, about ten, after Jean's parents had left and Miss Munroe had shown Jean to her room, Jean Grey smiled to herself as she lay on her bed in her new room. And it was _gorgeous_! The door to her room opened before it suddenly occurred to Jean that she was squealing aloud and at a rather high decibel range to boot. Jean turned to apologize, but she was shushed by the boy that she had seen earlier. "Hello," the boy said, his voice cracking a bit, which nearly caused Jean to started squealing again, "um, do you like your new room?"

"I love it," Jean shouted, causing the boy at the door to smile and made Jean smile, too, "it's just so great! I didn't catch your name earlier. What's your name?"

"Um, Scott," the boy answered shyly, looking down at the carpeted floor and digging the toe of his slippers into it in small circles, which actually _did_ cause Jean to squeal. Scott looked up with a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look, which caused Jean to quiet down, afraid she had startled the cute boy. Scott noticed her sad look and started again, "No, don't be sad! I-I-I didn't mean to make you upset!"

Jean brightened at his admission, before turning pondering and asking, "So, Scott, what's your _gift_? I mean, I read minds like the Professor guy and can lift objects with my mind, too, so you can probably do something awesome, too, right?"

Scott looked down again before replying in a small voice, "My _power_ isn't exactly indoor-friendly. You see," a large, deep breath, "I can shoot lasers out of my eyes, and I can't c-c-control it, so that's why I wear these glasses, you see?" a few awkward chuckles, "Not so awesome, right?"

Jean walked up to Scott and pulled him into a close embrace. Tears prickled in Jean's eyes as she whispered, "I'm sorry you can't control your powers, Scott. B-b-but they're really still awesome." Jean pulled away slightly to wipe the forming tears in her eyes before pushing closer to Scott. Scott's eyes widened, though no one could tell because of his sunglasses. Scott's cheeks felt wet as he realized he was crying. Nobody had ever been so kind to him before, not after he spilled about his _condition_. This made him slip out another tidbit of information he'd never shared before.

"I can't see any color but red, ruby red, ya know? That's what I hate the most about my powers, that I can't see what color anything really is," Scott mumbled, though loud enough for the girl in front of him to hear. Jean Grey simply held him tighter.

At about one in the morning, Jean Grey powered up her laptop and Googled a map from the mansion to the nearby town called Bayville. Jean propelled herself down the side of the building via tied-together bed linens before sneaking across the grounds and up and over the front gate. About twenty minutes later, a "WELCOME TO BAYVILLE" sign greeted the twelve year old girl. Five minutes later, she finally found a 24-hour drugstore. After ten minutes, she found her prize, paid for it, and left the store, clutching her bag of goodies to her chest as she made her way back to the mansion. At about a quarter after three in the morning, Jean Grey made her way to the nearest bathroom in the mansion and began her secret work. Jean had naturally red hair, but it was more orange than red, like most redheads. The hair-dye should do the trick. After all, Scott could only see in ruby red.

The next morning, the adult residents of the mansion were shocked by what Miss Jean Grey had done to her hair. Scott, however, grinned even as a lone teardrop slid down his face. This made Jean's own eyes become wet and grin to stretch across _her_ face. Now, Scott _knew_ at least one thing was the only color he knew, Jean's hair, which was now ruby red. And Jean kept it that way, long after the romantic feelings had intensified, then died out, and they now were in love and shared beds with others (he with a man who had webbed digits and a wicked tongue and she with a woman who could turn into living diamond and read minds as well as Jean could). Jean Grey continued to dye her hair ruby red for Scott, her dearest friend and first love and the _prettiest_ boy she had ever seen.

*TheArtOfBeingRed*

Read and review!


End file.
